Reception Report: All India Radio Press Review on Tibet

I only got to the radio in time to listen to All India Radio’s (AIR) last two renditions from the Indian press last night (of the Sunday Pioneer, August 18, and the Deccan Herald, August 10), and only from the second line of the transcript as follows. Some of the broadcast’s quotes differed slightly from what you will find online when clicking onto the links, and the online articles are of course more comprehensive than the review.

Beginning of Transcript –>

The self-immolation of a second Tibetan monk in a span of five months in the south-western Chinese province of Sichuan which is home to a large section of the community has once again put the spotlight on the Communist Party’s repressive behaviour towards the country’s ethnic minority. This past Sunday when 29-year-old Tsewang Norbu doused himself with gasoline and set himself ablaze in the centre of Daofu, a town located in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garzê, crying out for the freedom of his people and for the return of the exiled Dalai Lama to Tibet, his actions served as a somewhat vile but nonetheless true reflection of how deep runs Tibetan dissatisfaction of Han-majority Chinese leadership.*) Chinese authorities must do better consider Tibetean grievances, as they have shown greater respect for popular demands in other parts of the country.

In a related comment, Deccan Herald in its editorial comment, “Tough Tasks”, writes that the prime minister of Tibet’s government in exile, Lobsang Sangay,

has taken over the political role of the Dalai Lama who will continue as spiritual leader of the Tibetans. Sangay, as the Tibetan government in exile first elected leader, has announced that he is willing to talk to the Chinese government ‘anytime and anywhere.’ Beijing’s response was on expected lines. It described the government-in-exile as a ‘separatist political clique’ with ‘no legitimacy at all.’ Sangay has publicly expressed support for the Dalai Lama’s policy of seeking ‘meaningful autonomy’ for Tibet under Chinese rule.

The paper adds that

as for China, if it is planning to ignore Sangay in the hope that post-Dalai Lama the Tibetan movement will fizzle out, it is treading a perilous path.

That was a press review scripted by Sanjeev Kumar.

End of Transcript <–

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Note

*) The referral to Tsewang Norbu‘s self-immolation as “somewhat vile” by the Sunday Pioneer reminds me of an online discussion I had with bryanbeus, on High Peaks, Pure Earth, in April and May this year. The monk whose reported self-immolation was discussed there was named Phuntsog. A Wikipedia article links to one which discusses Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who burned himself to death in Saigon in 1963, apparently in protest against the U.S.-backed South-Vietnam government’s policies on Buddhism. The article on Quang Duc actually discusses the question if Buddhism, or any of its teachings, would justify self-immolition, and if the Saigon immolation was actually related to politics. Apparently, the article was originally published by the Minnesota State University.